Maratona del centenario

Today is THE day, after months of training, to enjoy my first marathon in Italy ... and to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Dorando Pietri's Olympic "win".

UPDATE: I finished, in fairly good form, in 4h39m ... just behind a Ms Hayes! A funny twist to a truly fun run ... the Italians wrote it up on the web page linked here. Take a shot at reading it directly in the original language!

Carpi (race day minus 1)

We've driven down to the Modena area from Milan (grazie Gianni) and stopped (after checking out the lodgings at I Cippi) at Carpi, in the Piazza di Martiri (seen here in the photo) to pick up my race bib and Champion Chip (#5124) for tomorrow's Maratona d'Italia - celebrating the centenary of Dorando Pietri's "win" at the 1908 Olympic Games in London.

This is a beautiful town and there are lots of runners wandering about - including some Englishmen dressed up as Dorando!

A nice 2 minute video overview of Carpi at this BBC link.

Happy Birthday, Odile!

Le gaucho Martín Fierro

Juan Carlos Rossi, our dear friend, has had his French translation of the first part of the epic poem "Martín Fierro" published - we highly recommend it and below are some links to articles and more information. Good reading - Bonne lecture !

Read a good article on his work here.

On sale: Librairie Espagnole - 7, rue Littré 75006 PARIS M°Montparnasse Bus 96 Tel : 01 4354 56 26

Closed Monday - Hours: 10h30-13h/14h-19h

And also: here (Not in catalog) and here.

ISBN 978-2-9522812-1-8 • 9,50 € • Régis Brauchli Editeur ... you can write to Juan Carlos here.

Nuit Blanche 2008

First launched in 2002, Paris Nuit Blanche (White Night) has become a hotly-anticipated annual celebration of all things art and culture in Paris. Attracting hundreds of thousands of visitors each year, Nuit Blanche sees countless Paris galleries, museums, city halls, and even swimming pools open their doors all night to visitors-- with free entry.

We're headed out to experience some of what will he happening. Hoping especially to get to see: Patti Smith at the église Saint-Germain.

JPG's Paris

A recent New York Times article "Fashionista Paris" lays out Jean-Paul Gaultier's list of 15 places to go in Paris. Certainly one way to see Paris ... I'll have to work up my own list some day. For now I'd say my top 3 from his list are: 3, 4, 15 (with 11 a real toss-up for 3rd place).

You, Dear Reader, might want to peruse the "tour" below and add your own comments here.

Anyway, for your inspiration and for future reference here is:

WHERE TO GO (THE GAULTIER TOUR)

1. Crazy Horse Paris, 12, avenue George V; Eighth; 33-1-4723-3232; www.lecrazyhorseparis.fr; The show, including a half bottle of Champagne, or two drinks, starts at 70 euros a person.

2. Bal du Moulin Rouge, 82, boulevard de Clichy; 18th, 33-1-5309-8282; www.moulin-rouge.com. The show begins at 9 p.m. and costs 99 euros, including a half-bottle of Champagne. An 11 p.m. show costs 89 euros.

3. La Grande Mosquée de Paris, 2 bis, place du Puits de l’Ermite; Fifth; 33-1-4535-9733; tea room: 33-1-4331-1814; www.mosquee-de-paris.org.

4. Grande Galerie de l’Evolution, 36, rue Geoffroy Saint Hilaire; Fifth; 33-1-4079-5479 or 33-1-4079-5601

5. Galeries de Paléontologie et d’Anatomie Comparée, 2, rue Bouffon; Fifth; 33-1-4079-5479; www.mnhn.fr. Admission is 8 euros.

6. Le Jules Verne, Eiffel Tower, second platform, Avenue Gustave Eiffel; Seventh; 33-1-4555-6144; www.lejulesverne-paris.com. Prix-fixe dinner 190 euros.

7. Casa Olympe, 48, rue St-Georges; Ninth; 33-1-4285-2601

8. Angélina, 226, rue de Rivoli; First; 33-1-4260-8200.

9. Hermès, 24, rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré; Eighth; 33-1-4017-4717; wwwhermes.com.

10. Jean-Paul Gaultier boutique, 6, rue Vivienne; Second; 33-1-4286-0505; www.jeanpaulgaultier.com.

11. La Pagode cinema, 57, bis rue de Babylone; Seventh, 33-1-4555-4848.

12. Théâtre du Châtelet, 1, place du Châtelet; First; 33-1-4028-2840; wwwchatelet-theatrecom.

13. Musée Grévin, 10, boulevard Montmartre; Ninth; 33-1-4770-8505; www.musee-grevin.com. 19.50 euros.

14. Le Grand Rex cinema, 1, boulevard Poissonnière; Second; 33-1-4236-8393; www.legrandrex.com.

15. Marché aux Puces de Clignancourt; Avenue de la Porte de Clignancourt; 18th. Located in the north of Paris, this is most easily reached by cab. Make sure to visit the Paul-Bert and the Serpette markets.

After a late departure (due to last week's fire in the EuroTunnel the trains are at only about 60% of usual since only the south tunnel is open). Arrival in London at the new Eurostar station, Saint Pancras mid-afternoon with the trip taking about an hour longer than usual ... but, no problem, since we had packed sandwiches (and a couple of bottles of wine!) and we had a very comfortable voyage.

A quick cab ride got us over to the Saint David's Hotel in Paddington - a fairly nice place run by Alex and his parents (from Cyprus) in an interesting area of London (equidistant between Hyde Park and Regent Park (one or the other as my planned Sunday long run option).

The afternoon has us exploring the area on foot and stopping at the Sir Alexander Fleming pub (he discovered penicillin at nearby St Mary's Hospital).

Afterwards Odile and her mother returned to the hotel and I went out for a 10k run east along Marylebone Road. The main challenge was to remember to look the "wrong" way before crossing the streets!

To wrap up the day we went to a nearby Scottish pub (Fleming was a Scot) called the Rob Roy - the name (also a recall of our two good friends in San Francisco!) and the Aberdeen FC shirt on the wall tip one off to this being quite a Scottish venue - made me nostalgic to return to Edinburgh. We had a nicer dinner and later Nick (the groom's oldest brother), down from Cambridge with wife and kids, met us for a closing "snoot".

Giant Map of Europe

My run today took me out to the Eiffel Tower and I finally got to walk on the giant map of Europe - the fastest way to vist all the counties of the EU! Try it if you're in town - easy ... and educational.

Canal running

One of the nice things of being at the "country house" at Montigny is that I have a wide choice of running paths - besides the profusion of possibilities in the forest.Today I ran 8km along the "Canal du Loing"

In total the canal du Loing is 53 km long and joins the "canal de Briare" (at Montargis) to the Seine (at Saint Mammès), via theLoing (between Moret and Saint Mammès).

Longest training run

In preparation for next month's marathon I did my longest training run today - 35 km from Montigny to Melun (just a marathon away from Paris - another 41 km). Ouf! I am a bit stiff ... any self-massage tips out there?!

Anyway, so far all is going well and Italy should be a fun run (well, more o r less).

Afterwards at Vosves.

Market Day

Noonish market at Nemours then apéro "chez les voisins" before a nice fireside (yes, it is rainy and very cool) dinner.

" Les rues, la place et les maisons de Nemours ont conservé la disposition, la dimension, l'irrégularité et la gaieté du Moyen-Age… Rien n'y est sublime, tout y est charmant. Nemours a tout à la fois le rayonnement des premières années et la paix des derniers jours. C'est un de ceslieux comme on en rêve pour commencer la vie ou la finir." - Victor HUGO

Almost Land's End...

Odile and I are visiting Quimiac for a couple of days ... just beautiful! We're between the two outreachs, right on the edge - more news later.

Paris Plage opens today

For the past few summers, the banks of the Seine in Paris have been transformed into a beach-- Paris Plage. This offers Parisians and tourists a rather surprising plot twist when strolling along the river.

For several weeks, the roads along the Seine are closed, and a "beach" is created. Tons of sand are crated in, potted palm trees are placed, beach chairs and umbrellas are arranged. The typical Paris dress code is reduced substantially. :-0

This year, the plage visits Paris for a month, from 21 July to 21 August 2008. Don't forget your bathing suit!

UPDATE: To kick things off there's a free concert tonight (by the Ensemble orchestral de Paris at 6pm, followed by a giant picnic. We may be going.

Disneyland Paris

I spent a fun day with Gladys, her 3 daughters and her nephew at Disneyland Paris; We had a ball - even though I found the Space Mountain attraction rather jolting!

The weather was just splendid and we did most of the major rides - including some I hadn't done before (waiting on some lines can be noxious however, as attested by the "Buzz Light-Peo" incident!) ...

I left a bit earlier than the others as our friend jean-Yves arrived sooner than expected from Uzès (and I still had to do my training run - which I finished just before midnight).

Thanks to Josean for the photo here which I "borrowed" from his facebook album.

Ingrid Bétancourt ¡libre!

After over 6 years of captivity at the hands of the FARC in Columbia ... Ingrid has been freed.

Celebration starting at 5pm at the Paris City Hall . We'll be going ... see you there?

Ciao bello ... and come back soon!

Rob heads back to San Fran tomorrow so we're having a final drink and then dinner near his place on the rue Montorgueil.

After drinks at the outdoor terrace of L’Esplanade Saint-Eustache we checked out a couple of places very nearby (including a Russian restaurant that looks promising - especially in colder weather) but finally we ended up halfway down on rue Mandar, a few minutes walk north, at Dar Wafa, for a very nice and convivial Moroccan dinner.

Marche des Fiertés + Happy Birthday Regina!

We're off to take a quick look at this year's Gay Pride Parade (which takes off from nearby Denfert-Rocherau) then taking the tram east (a bit beyond Chinatown) to celebrate our dear friend Regina's big 5-0!

UPDATE: On the right a photo of Regina and the collective birthday gift we all gave her - a spiffy, red scooter to run around Paris! Optimo!

Fête de Musique 2008

The 27th annual Fête de la Musique will see us around 8pm near Métro station Avron to hear our Brazilian friends play at the French Kawa bar in the 20th arrondissement (go east one block on Avenue d'Avron to 6 rue Planchat) - hopefully we'll see (some of) you there tonight ... or elsewhere, as it promises to be a loooonnnggg night.

Only good luck...

The "Gros Caillou Quartier d’Arts" association is holding their annual art event called "Jardin d'Arts" and this year there is a good selection of artists, including our friend Eva gathered around the theme of "Art Environnement".

As usual it takes place in the gardens surrounding the church called l’Eglise Saint-Jean, at 147 rue de Grenelle, in the 7th arrondissement.

The vernissage is tonight Friday 13 ( a good way to fend off any bad luck vibes) from 6pm until 9:30pm - the show continues tomorrow from 11am to 8pm. See you there tonight?

La Ménagerie

This afternoon we did a short visit to the zoo at the Jardin des Plantes with our friends Anne-Marie and Christian. We especially enjoyed the orang-outans.

We also visited the expo about the atoll Albabra - very biodiverse!

Say "cheese", Pop!

The method for creating Roquefort cheese was discovered in Roquefort, France on this day in the year 1070. Which leads to a thought for my father who, unlike me, just loved Roquefort and, indeed, all bleus. He used to tell me, as I grimaced when he offered me a nibble, "Your taste is all in your mouth!" ... ¡Bendición , pai!

Out for a run

I've come across an aid for my running - the Google Map Pedometer at this address. An example of what I plan to run today is here. It may be of use to you other runners (walkers, hikers) out there - let me know.

UPDATE: Actual route run (using another tool) is below.

Eva @ Cachan

The town of Cachan, just south of Paris, has the opening of their 20th Art Bienal tonight. Our friend Eva has several works on display.

For those Dear Readers in France: if you're free and want to drop in for some fine "land art" type works please let me know and I'll get you an invite. See you there!

UPDATE: A great turnout for this interesting show - with Eva's works (see photos below) being very well admired. A tip of the hat to another work, of animation - entitled Bâmiyân, by Patrick Pleutin that we liked a great deal (see him at work here). Over 60 artists are exposed and the expo runs until June 30 so stop by if you are nearby.










Visit Eva's website at: www.bony-tourtoglou.net

La fête des voisins

PLANNED: click title

Entre les murs

The film adaptation of the book "Entre les murs" has just won this year's Palme d'Or at Cannes. It was produced by our friend Fanchette's son, Alexis - bravo mon p'tit !

Which film do you recommend to us, dear Reader? Just leave a post here.

Manifestations pour la défense des retraites

We marching,this afternoon, in the big manifestation unitaire starting from Bastille at 3pm.

UPDATE: I was met by Dominique, Jacques, Winky and Joel on the steps of the Opéra to take part in what, for me, turned out to be a rather lackluster "manif" - fewer people than I'd expected and a low "energy level" (maybe because most of us were over 50? Alas, lost youth!) - after a couple of hours of start-stop marching we stopped to have drinks at a bistro near Saint-Sebastien - Froissart then we dispersed.

For dinner at home we had Myriam (back from visiting her friend in Puy-de-Dôme), Fanchette (who's responding well to her treatments), Florence (who showed up with a stapler a patient's little boy had taken apart - we had fun figuring out how to put it back together - good idea for a party game) and also Benjamin came over (after a week in Korea).

Benj was kind enough to bring us a bottle of Dong Dong Ju (in its charming plastic bottle). Dong Dong Ju is a rustic rice wine (emphasis on the "rustic"). It's milky white and a little bit sweet, but not too sweet. Benj tells me they usually serve it up in big bowls, which you then ladle into smaller bowls for drinking. It's not that strong, really, but if you drink a lot of it then it supposedly gives you a warm and happy buzz with just a little bit of CRAZY thrown in. I didn't know better so I had brought out tiny shot glasses to serve us - next time BOWLS!

We had a nice discussion over coffee (OK, OK and more Dong Dong Ju!) about cremation and disposing of ashes in France. Also the rights of burying someone on your own property. How'd we end up on those topics? Maybe I'll hold off on those bowls for the DDJ!

"Du vent dans les branches"

I came across this expo (Artsénat 2008) in the Jardin du Luxembourg on my run this afternoon - the image is of a work by Faz. The expo runs until September 21 for those of you who'll be coming soon.

Happy Saint Yves Day

I walked down the street to our "Comedia" Square where the 14th arrondisement's Bretons (and wannabes) were gathered for today's Fest-Yves Gouel Erwan - bagpipes galore, much dancing and lots of cider and crepes. Fun for all! Next year I'll come earlier and stay longer.

La Nuit des Musées OR Les P'tits Rocks

Well, the idea of staying up all (or most) of the night going from museum to museum (I had a hit-list of 18 interesting spots) was pre-empted by our friends Dominique & Jacques dropping over in the early evening and us all deciding to go to have dinner at Jimmy Le Watt's nearby.

To our surprise the place was packed and a pick-up band of 12-year-olds were wailing away (impressively) on old rock standards (both French and American). High energy, fairly saavy musically and good looks - we were probably at the genesis of the new Rolling Stones (I askd - they call their group "Les Petits Rocks").

Just so you can enjoy a bit of their gig here, below, is a short clip I shot.

Lundi de Pentecôte

We're heading up to Saint-André de Valborgne for the day. Some hiking, some lunching, some fun!

UPDATE: Little hiking, fine lunching, more drinking and talk of caviar (no, we didn't have any ... but did you know it is also produced in France? Yes! See here.)

Lots of kilometers on winding, not to say very twisty, roads ( see below) up from Saint-Jean-du-Gard (where Anne our friend lives - sadly she was not home when we stopped by).

Dinner, en trio, with Jean-Yves followed by viewing the French film "Les Côtelettes" (strange - but then aren't most French film strange for me?) ... where's the action?! Anyway, Death never looked better (well, when she makes an effort).

BBQ Sunday

Twenty of us at la Gare d'Uzès (in the tiny photo on left) for lunch by Polo (excellent BBQ).

Beautifully sunny all day - around 6pm the rain started to set in and it promises to be with us most of the week - nonetheless tomorrow we plan to go up to Saint-André-de-Valborgne. Then return to Uzès on Tuesday for dinner with Christian and Anne-Marie (your easy but mind-blowing recipes gladly accepted - post here, thanks).

UPDATE: And the beat goes on ... after leaving the station around 8pm about a dozen of us showed up at Jean-Yves' place out in the scrublands to continue partying. As a treat below you have a short clip of Bébert going at it (as Odile tells me to shoot "stills", not "film"!) ...

Couscous Delight

Dinner at Bourdic - as you can see from the photo (above) a town surrounded by vineyards - where Carole served us (a jolly band of 10) an excellent couscous liberally accompanied with natural (biodynamic, often) wines - such as a fine red, cuvée Cariña.

Natural wines are growing in popularity - see a map of wine growers in France here.

UPDATE: It took a while but I've found the name of the "petillant" white wine we had before dinner; it was a very agreeable "Moussaillon" Domaine des Griottes (also a link here). According to Carole we can find it in Paris at La Cave les Papilles. And here is a place to taste it direct!

Quand mes pieds me brûlent...

"Quand mes pieds me brûlent, je dégaine mon pouce en free-lance vagabonde."

We're off tonight to a local bookstore, Librairie Le Parefeuille, to hear our friend Lucie read from her first novel, Gadji - see more info here.

Le Grand Déballage du 8 mai

We're headed off this afternoon to the traditional combo "Spring Cleaning -Flea Market" in Uzès' main square.

UPDATE: Spotty luck finding items of interest at the market but afterwards sure-fire fun at La Muscade bar,where almost everyone we know in town showed up at one moment or the other.

Dinner tonight finds us back (again) at Collias for crepes at our friends' restaurant. We drove over with Jean-Jacques in his impecably restored 1948 Chrysler Windsor (one of his amazing collection of Amerian cars of the 30s and 40s). Always a kick!

Some assembly required...

Our friend, Nicolas, has gotten a billard table for his home (le Gare - some nice B&W photos here) and it seems that it requires some assembly (the pool table, not his home!) so we're hiking over there late this afternoon to lend a hand ... then invited to dinner there.

UPDATE: At the "train station" right now listening to some wonderful tangos by a singer Nico has introduced me to: Daniel Melingo. Also got an earful of Alexandre Kinn (tip of the hat to Camille for the lead).

We're tucking into an excellent "Gigot d'agneau" for dinner right now ... so more later.

LATER: More music - (merci encore Camille) some songs from Adèle: "My Same" and "Right As Rain".
And, finally, don't miss "Lake Of Udaïpur" by Le Tone and Rit who sings "Morning Drop". To end (icing on the cake): KT Tunstall doing "I Want You Back".

Dinner is served ...

We're making dinner for a dozen tonight so the morning was food shopping then a stop at Café Muscade (one of our "regular" places here in Uzès) for a quick "short beer" = 15cl.

Hopefully enough time for a short run this afternoon (although the weather has turned rainy) and then I will "trimer aux fourneaux!" to prepare "soup to nuts".

Adessias Marseille

After leaving Marseille we drove to L'Estaque for a nice lunch overlooking the marina then had coffee with Corinne (our "bodywork" friend) before hading back to Uzès along secondary roads.






Our rather meandering route took us to the beautiful calaque (rocky inlet) of Niolon which you can appreciate in the photo just above and also here. We had a nice midafternoon stop there for coffee at L'Ancre on their wooden terrace overlooking the small port - which also hosts a well-renowned scuba-diving school. [click on any of the photos to get a larger view]

Later we crossed the Rhône via ferry (a hoot!) called the Bacs de Barcarin, which you can see in the photo below. There are also some nice pictures of the area, called the Camargue, here.

Afterwards we stopped at Beaucaire (where Yves had once owned a house) where we tried to hook up with his bookseller friend - he was unfortunately already closed, but the bookseller just next-door, Ahmed Agbani, who we ran into by chance in the main square, opened up his shop (Motif) for us. You can see a nice view of the town in the photo on the right.

Finally pulled into Uzès around 7pm tired but happy with our trip.

Uzès --- Marseille ... and towns in between

We're off to Saint Siffret (in the photo at left) for a vide-grenier late this morning then lunch at Marie-Ange's (her famous paella) in Arpaillargues et Aureilhac ... you can see our buddy Francis slamming the guitar in the YouTube video below!

Late afternoon we're off to Marseille (to drop off Jean-Yves' grandson) where we'll be staying the night chez Béatrice. Hopefully, this time, I'll be able to procure some La Cagole beer,there!




Francis, Camille and Bébert here.

Uzès 2008.05.03

Heading over to join some friends at Saint-Quentin-la-Poterie for a rock concet tonight at the town's Place de la Liberté - part of the Festival "Amours d’Accordéons" - with two local groups: Gattaka and le groupe Portelli.

Uzès 2008.05.02

Jean-Yves & Silvia met us at the gare de Nîmes and drove us up to Uzès where it is just lovely today - plenty of sunshine, warm and plans for a hike this afternoon. More news later.

UPDATE: The hike, starting from the church in the lovely town of Boucoiran-et-Nozières, turned into a sort of "Lost Key" treasure hunt as it turned out we were retracing the steps of Arthur, Jean-Yves' son, who lost the key to his Citroen BX the day before. After a couple of fruitless hours of searching we gave up. See here more info about this town and others in the area.

Evening found us, as our own personal tradition dictates for the first night in the region, for dinner at Anne-Marie and Christian's (Happy Birthday to him!) crêperie Les Caves de Collias. We ran into René (the scupltor), two of his children and his sister & brother in law - so we all got one big table together. Lucky for me as I got an insider's look (thanks to sitting next to Rene's son, Henri) at Grand Theft Auto (I sat next to Henri, the 14 year old PSP addict) - and finally have an idea of what all the excitment for GTA4 is all about - it is truly light-years advanced from the video games of my younger years (if somewhat amoral). In any case this kind of doesn't get any better than here ... and they aren't even Bretons!

Heading South...

... to Uzès and points adjacent.